Q&A: Katie Nicoll
Fresh off a sold-out show at The Poetry Club, Katie Nicoll is riding high on the buzz of packing out a room miles from her AC/DC-obsessed hometown of Kirriemuir. Blending her graphic design roots with her music, she crafts bold, DIY artwork — like the matchbox-inspired cover for her single bye!!!. With new music on the horizon, there’s a restless energy around Katie — the kind that signals even bigger things to come.
Check out our Q&A below:
1. You just packed out The Poetry Club for a sold-out show—how did it feel having a crowd full of people there for you? Was there a moment that really stuck with you from the night?
My emotions over my Poetry Club gig didn’t fully hit me until Sunday afternoon whilst watching back videos
on Instagram. IT WAS AMAZING! The realisation that I’d packed out a room two hours away from where I grew up filled me with a new sense of pride over my music. I feel proud & soooo beyond grateful of the people that made time to come down and support, grateful of the boys in my band, and grateful of all my family and friends.
2. We love that you design your own artwork and merch. Does your visual creativity feed into your music? What’s your process like when bringing your ideas to life?
Thank you so much!
I’ll often have a rough idea of how I want the artwork to look as early as writing the songs.
I’d like to think that I’ve always been a pretty visually creative person- I took an interest in art as a child and it was my first love before music. When I was in high school I felt torn between both of these subjects when deciding where to apply for uni, but ultimately chose to go and do a year of the general foundation course at DJCAD in Dundee, then chose to specialise in Graphic Design for my remaining three years. A huge reason for this choice was because I hoped it’d tie in well with my music. I think it has!
To be honest I haven’t loved university overall and cannot WAIT to graduate in a few months. I’m hoping that i’ll have more time to focus on music!
In terms of my design process- I really enjoy working with bright, vibrant colours and also love to work by hand. My favourite single covers I’ve created have been collages that I’ve then scanned in to Photoshop (i.e.- the ‘i just miss my dog.’ artwork, ft. me on a ladder in a field close to my house taken on my camera which was balanced on a tripod).
Most recently though, for my single ‘bye!!!’, I had this idea that I wanted a match box on the cover, inspired by its lyrics “took a match and I burned down our little bridge”.
Initially I tried to create this using photos from Adobe Stock, but none of them looked right to me so I bought a real box of matches and printed my design out to fit then photographed it. This is probably one of my favourites!
3. Your latest single With You (Na Na Na) has a proper earworm chorus. How does this one compare to your past releases? What kind of stuff were you listening to while writing it?
Aw thanks guys! I really appreciate the loooovely feedback.
To be honest I couldn’t tell you exactly what I was listening to around the time I wrote it. I think I pull influence from a lot of places. I grew up in town that’s OBSESSED with AC/DC (Kirriemuir) and listened to the likes of Paramore & Taylor Swift almost religiously. I loved sooo many pop-punk and indie-rock bands as a teenager (still do TBH) but lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Fontaines D.C, Doechii, Joni Mitchell, Sabrina Carpenter and a new artist I discovered called Chloe Qisha. It’s a music genre soup up here in my ears!!!
I’ll give anything a listen and that’s a quality I’ll always try to keep. It feels important to me as a musician to open up my mind to everything that’s out there, because you never know what might surprise you or next inspire you.
4. Your Instagram Reels and TikToks always have a bit of personality—where do you get the inspiration for them? Are there any artists whose promo game you really rate?
I’m a big fan of Dayglow. I love his TikTok feed and how it feels so casual. Most of his videos are of him playing music in his room and feel familiar like the earlier days of the internet when everyone on YouTube was doing just that. They’re so simple. Maybe that’s a crap answer because I was a fan of his music & thought he was cool anyway before I discovered his account there.
5. You’re from Kirriemuir—does your hometown influence your music at all? Was there a local music scene that helped shape you as an artist?
Is there a music scene in Kirriemuir?!?! Absolutely. Before AC/DC welcomed Newcastle’s Brian Johnston, they had Kirriemuir’s Bon Scott.
My crazy wee town host a three-day festival every year in May called Bonfest where we welcome hardcore AC/DC fans from all over the world. Because of this, I have Facebook friends from Peru, Egypt, Spain, Germany, Australia, the U.S… and played my first pub gig to some of them when I was just 13. Now, at age 21, I got to be the first official host of the festival- where I introduced the bands on to the main stage each night. Totally daunting but a super cool experience.
When I started university, my friends at the time didn’t believe that this event was as huge as what it actually is, until they came to see it for themselves. I realise that my small town is very unique and feel proud to come from a place so passionate about its musical heritage.
The festival also works hand-in-hand with a youth charity called DD8 Music, which I was super involved in as a young teenager. Having this group on my doorstep was an incredible thing to have growing up- I learned so much from the people there and it definitely helped fuel my passion for playing music even more.
I was also fortunate to get a job there (DD8 Music) as a youth worker when I was 18, and have continued to go back and work as a temporary staff member over my holidays from uni ever since. This is the most fulfilling job ever BTW. I couldn’t be more thankful of the opportunities they’ve given me over the years- and despite the complaints I’ve maybe made over the years about being from “the sticks”, I can also appreciate that not many people from a countryside town like mine can say that they have an annual rock festival.
We’re big fans of Peter Pan too btw… Google it
6. You recently got involved in a songwriting camp with Dundee’s Be Charlotte—how did that come about, and what was the experience like? Did you come away with any new ideas or collaborators?
I think I first discovered Charlotte back in lockdown. From memory it was my mum that first came across her Instagram account. I followed her from there and was then invited to a songwriting camp she hosted at the botanic gardens in Dundee in October 2021, another one in 2022 and again 2024. These camps were amazing as i feel it’s not often i find myself in a room full of so many talented and like-minded girls in music, so it’s just great when an opportunity like that does come up. I still keep in touch with lots of them and they’ve become pretty good friends over the last few years. I think what Charlotte is doing with her writing camps is soooo cool, and hope to see them being continued for as long as possible! Big love to her!
7. With such a strong start to the year, what’s next for you? Any big plans fans should keep an eye out for?
For now, I’m trying to focus on getting through my last few months of university- however I do have some festivals coming up and there is definitely potential to do another headline show before the end of the year. I’m also about to record some new music which should hopefully be released by the summer- so that’s exciting!
Once I graduate, I really want to take time to find my feet as a musician and make a steady plan with what I want to do next.
I’m completely independent for now, so I’m hoping to try to be able to build more of a team around me that could help to push my music and I that bit further into the world. To be quite honest- I’m freaking out a bit but I’m trying to trust that the world will fall in to place for me, reminding myself that good things take time & that the unknown can actually be quite an exciting thing!